Immunoglobulin Kappa Chain Receptor Editing in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Journal/Book: Z Rheumatol 1998; 57 Suppl. 1: 64 (P 77). 1998;

Abstract: Department of Internal Medicine and Harold C. Simmons Arthritis Research Center University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Dallas TX To determine whether receptor editing of Vk genes was involved in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) the usage of Vk and Jk gene elements from individual peripheral CD19+ B cells obtained from a patient with untreated SLE was examined. No differences in the Vk and Jk gene usage in the nonproductive gene repertoire of this SLE patient was noted compared to the distribution of genes found in normal adults. However an increased usage of Jk5 segments and a significant overrepresentation of the Vk1 and Vk4 families especially the L15 O14/O4 and B3 genes characterized the productive Vk gene repertoire of the SLE patient. Furthermore Jk5-containing Vk gene rearrangements in the productive but not the nonproductive repertoire manifested significantly fewer mutations compared to Vk genes recombined with Jk1 - 4. These data are consistent with the conclusion that receptor editing of Vk is much more apparent in this SLE patient than in normals. Moreover the current study suggests that a deficiency in this means to counteract the emergence of autoimmunity is not an essential feature of SLE. This work was support by grants of the DFG (Do 491/2 - 1) and the NIH (AI 31229). le

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